Thursday, October 22, 2009

Monica Holloway

Monica Holloway is the critically acclaimed author of the memoir Driving With Dead People, which Newsweek called “unforgettable,” Glamour christened “a classic,” and the Washington Post deemed “irresistible.” She contributed to the anthology Mommy Wars, from which her essay “Red Boots and Cole Haans” was described by Newsday as “brilliant, grimly hilarious.”

The book I just finished is The Possibility of Everything by Hope Edelman. It’s brand new (came out in September), and I devoured it. I’ve been a fan of Hope Edelman’s since reading her book, Motherless Daughters, and waited with great anticipation for her first memoir. It was well worth the wait.

In the book, Hope details her journey to Belize where she travels with her husband and three-year-old daughter, Maya. Maya has developed a very difficult, almost unmanageable, imaginary friend and Hope takes her to a Mayan healer in hopes that they might banish this imaginary friend. Along the way, she discovers a completely new side of herself, one that truly believes in miracles, not just what can be explained scientifically.

The writing is smart and striking beyond belief. I found myself, literally, transported. Riveted. I did not know much about Belize or the history of that magical, beautiful place until I read this book. Now, all I want to do is get my plane ticket to Belize.

Before Hope’s book, I read Still Alice by Lisa Genova. It’s a novel that is so well written, you feel as if you’re experiencing the main character, Alice’s, slow descent into early onset Alzheimer’s disease yourself. I could not put this down. This may sound depressing but it was, in fact, terrifying, true-to-life and uplifting all at the same time. A literary feat! I loved this book.